Rio de Janeiro, November 11 (RHC-Xinhua) -- A group of 15 armed men burst into a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before dawn and freed their injured ringleader, local media reported Monday.

The ringleader was identified as Johnny Luis da Silva, a local organized crime ring's head known as "Bebezao" or "Big Baby," who had been injured in a September shootout with police when he was trying to hold up a delivery truck, Brazil's leading G1 news website said.

During Monday's incident, which took place around 4 a.m. local time, the armed men rounded up panicked patients and medical staff at the city's Azevedo State Hospital and locked them in the intensive care unit, according to police sources.

The gang located the room where the leader was convalescing and helped him flee the scene, authorities said. Authorities were searching the area in an attempt to locate the gang.